In a small upstate New York town, an idyllic lake yields a ghastly discovery when the skeletal remains of a young woman missing for 27 years are pulled from the icy depth-along with unmistakable evidence of her murder. Suddenly, the long-dormant case of Kelly McShane Braeden's mysterious disappearance is reactivated. And for two devastated men, dark emotions and disturbing secrets will also rise to the surface.

For local coroner Dr. Mark Roper, the murder is more than just a grim interruption of his general practice in Sleepy Hampton Junction. Kelly Braeden had been a surrogate sister. When the police insist the trail of Kelly's disappearance is too cold to pick up again, he vows to find the missing pieces of the past that will lead him to the killer. Because that's what cracks cold cases: "One guy who can't get it out of his head."

Yet Mark isn't the only one with Kelly's murder on his mind. Dr. Earl Garnet, chief of staff at Buffalo's St. Paul's Hospital, was once Kelly's secret lover... and would-be saviour. Until his plans to rescue her from an abusive marriage were cut short by her vanishing. Now, as the last person to see Kelly alive, he's in danger of becoming the prime suspect, unless he can unmask the murderer first.

But neither men knows about the twisted chain of lies and corruption that led to Kelly's death - or the shocking revelations that were meant to go with her to a watery grave. And the harder they push for answers, the easier they make it for their lethal quarry to zero in on them - and push back with deadly force.

With Mortal Remains, Peter Clement retains total control of
readers' nerves from the very first page, once more wielding heart-racing
suspense and scalpel-sharp terror with a master surgeon's skill.